With a newly assertive Beijing, the Trump administration has to decide handle the superpower

Receive the latest national-international updates in your inbox

In this Nov. 3, 2015 file photo, China's President Xi Jinping attends a meeting of the second Understanding China Conference, in Beijing, China.

While the U.S. remains the world's dominant military and economic power, China now is the world's second-biggest economy and has the largest military. And Beijing is beginning to flex its muscles.

After hundreds of years of looking inward, China is ascerting itself regionally, building aircraft carriers, asserting its dominance over most of the disputed South China Sea and sending troops abroad.

President Xi Jinping, China's most powerful leader in decades, is sending Washington a strong message, which is that China has changed and old assumptions about global power and American dominance don't hold anymore.

As a result of an assertive Beijing, President-Elect Donald Trump will have to decide whether to continue irritating Beijing by sailing aircraft carriers in waters China claims. Beijing's willingness or unwillingness to restrain North Korea's nuclear ambitions may provoke some sort of reaction from Washington.

Attack Kills 13, Police Kill 5 Suspects in Spain: Officials

A white van jumped the sidewalk in Barcelona’s Las Ramblas district on Aug. 17, 2017. Police say 13 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in this terrorist attack. The area is one of the city’s top tourist destinations. Later, police shot and killed five terror suspects in Cambrils, Spain, in a separate incident.

(Published 3 hours ago)

Trump has not wasted time in rattling Beijing's cage — that may hint at things to come.